Monday, May 09, 2005

Schweitzer for the defense

Gov. Brian Schweitzer was on the phone this morning to defend his line-item veto of certain reporting requirements contained in the budget bill. I criticized the veto in a post below.

The governor essentially made two points:

1. The reporting requirements imposed by the Legislature violate the Montana Constitution, a point that even legislative attorney Greg Petesch has acknowledged may be valid. Petesch went on to hold that even if the requirements were improper, they couldn't be vetoed after the Legislature adjourned. The governor, naturally, disputes this assertion.

2. The legislative requirements would impose a lot of new and unnecessary paperwork that nobody would bother to read anyway. Schweitzer is more interested in proceeding with plans to streamline government, which he says could save $60 million. The House defeated his performance review proposal on a 50-50 party-line vote.

I think that's a fair summary of his position. I'm not totally won over because I don't see why it's worth a legal fight over information that the public (not to mention the Legislature) is mostly entitled to have anyway. But you have to hand it to Schweitzer: He's not afraid to go to bat right out loud for his positions.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I dunno, Dave. The possibility of saving SIXTY MILLION DOLLARS kinda wins me over to the Governor's argument! But really, is it worth fighting for? HELL YES! The Repubies, in SPITE of being labeled "girlie men" by the Missoulian", are big boys! They know that if they purposely pick a fight with Schweitzer, he's gonna hit back twice as hard! If they don't, they're not only girlie men but stoopid to boot! And yes, it appears that it is a fight worth fighting. This appears to be simply the latest permutation of their whining that permeated the Lege! That's all. And ya know, Montanans are gettin' just a leelte bit tired of their continual, unsubstantiated attacks on Schweitzer, ESPECIALLY as the state fast fowards to better times! The RePubies have the old saying back asswards! They believe that "whiners never quit and quitters never whine"! We'll just have to wait and see if "whiners become winners"! I seriously doubt, though, that whining is a winning platform! We'll see. We'll see!

Anonymous said...

Hell, that wasn't anyonymous! That was me, Larry Kralj, Environmental Rangers dammit! (we hold the hard line of hope) I just forgot to add my name.

Anonymous said...

Gosh, Larry, we never would have guessed.

Anonymous said...

Well, one never knows! Sides, I just hate anonymous posts AND blogs. Gotta be a real coward to have an anonymous blog! Hell, this is AMERICA! Be PROUD of your opinion or shut the hell up!

LK

Anonymous said...

Uh oh, Dave. Looks as if I was right on a previous post. Little marky racicrotch (prounced rosscrotch), DID THE EXACT SAME THING THAT GOV. SCHWEITZER IS DOING TODAY!, as reported in the gazette today. So, that begs the question, WHERE WAS THE OUTRAGE AND INDIGNATION FROM ROY BROWN THEN?! Just WHY have the girliemen (or should I say hypocritical, whiney girliemen), why have the girliemen NOW suddenly had a case of Contitutionalitis! Why do they have their Pubie knickers in a knot bout something that their OWN goober and minigod did?! THAT is the question! And a DAMN GOOD question it is! These guys like brown, bobo keenan, mikey lange, shame what's left of the REAL republican party in Montana! Maybe that inicpient old-style Republican movement up near Kalispel will grow and finally throw these rightwing wacko Natalsonian nutcases outta the party! And that will be a very good thing for our state, helping us truly ushure in a new day in Montana! The wackos, like the white supremnits, can go somewhere else to create their wacko homeland!

Anonymous said...

Uh oh, Dave. Looks as if I was right on a previous post. Little marky racicrotch (prounced rosscrotch), DID THE EXACT SAME THING THAT GOV. SCHWEITZER IS DOING TODAY!, as reported in the gazette today. So, that begs the question, WHERE WAS THE OUTRAGE AND INDIGNATION FROM ROY BROWN THEN?! Just WHY have the girliemen (or should I say hypocritical, whiney girliemen), why have the girliemen NOW suddenly had a case of Contitutionalitis! Why do they have their Pubie knickers in a knot bout something that their OWN goober and minigod did?! THAT is the question! And a DAMN GOOD question it is! These guys like brown, bobo keenan, mikey lange, shame what's left of the REAL republican party in Montana! Maybe that inicpient old-style Republican movement up near Kalispel will grow and finally throw these rightwing wacko Natalsonian nutcases outta the party! And that will be a very good thing for our state, helping us truly ushure in a new day in Montana! The wackos, like the white supremnits, can go somewhere else to create their wacko homeland!

Anonymous said...

Uh oh, Dave. Looks as if I was right on a previous post. Little marky racicrotch (prounced rosscrotch), DID THE EXACT SAME THING THAT GOV. SCHWEITZER IS DOING TODAY!, as reported in the gazette today. So, that begs the question, WHERE WAS THE OUTRAGE AND INDIGNATION FROM ROY BROWN THEN?! Just WHY have the girliemen (or should I say hypocritical, whiney girliemen), why have the girliemen NOW suddenly had a case of Contitutionalitis! Why do they have their Pubie knickers in a knot bout something that their OWN goober and minigod did?! THAT is the question! And a DAMN GOOD question it is! These guys like brown, bobo keenan, mikey lange, shame what's left of the REAL republican party in Montana! Maybe that inicpient old-style Republican movement up near Kalispel will grow and finally throw these rightwing wacko Natalsonian nutcases outta the party! And that will be a very good thing for our state, helping us truly ushure in a new day in Montana! The wackos, like the white supremnits, can go somewhere else to create their wacko homeland!

Anonymous said...

Uh oh, Dave. Looks as if I was right on a previous post. Little marky racicrotch (prounced rosscrotch), DID THE EXACT SAME THING THAT GOV. SCHWEITZER IS DOING TODAY!, as reported in the gazette today. So, that begs the question, WHERE WAS THE OUTRAGE AND INDIGNATION FROM ROY BROWN THEN?! Just WHY have the girliemen (or should I say hypocritical, whiney girliemen), why have the girliemen NOW suddenly had a case of Contitutionalitis! Why do they have their Pubie knickers in a knot bout something that their OWN goober and minigod did?! THAT is the question! And a DAMN GOOD question it is! These guys like brown, bobo keenan, mikey lange, shame what's left of the REAL republican party in Montana! Maybe that inicpient old-style Republican movement up near Kalispel will grow and finally throw these rightwing wacko Natalsonian nutcases outta the party! And that will be a very good thing for our state, helping us truly ushure in a new day in Montana! The wackos, like the white supremnits, can go somewhere else to create their wacko homeland!